Kunjiramayanam

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Tennyson

What is it about? :: Kunjiraman (Vineeth Sreenivasan) and Laalu (Dhyan Sreenivasan) are cousin-brothers who have turned out to be enemies, as one incident changes their lives forever. While the former leaves to the Middle East to make money, the latter keep failing the tenth standard and ends up as being the assistant of the village’s tailor, Kuttan (Aju Varghese). Along his friends Sasi (Deepak Parambol) and Kunjoottan (Neeraj Madhav), Kunjiraman has a fun-filled time during his holidays from the Middle East and gets engaged to Sajitha (Srinda Ashab) who makes him promise that he will not drink, ever. Before the marriage date, he would leave for his job only to return and find the situation different. Meanwhile, Mallika (Arya Rohit) and Reshma (Sneha Unnikrishnan) also will have some say in his future, as well as that of Laalu.

The defence of Kunjiramayanam :: It is easy to defend this movie as we did for Vellimoonga as the soul of both is in light-hearted, clean comedy. But the similarities end there, in the way of approaching the comic side and making it interesting and appealing for the family audience. The movie creates that kind of situations which has the ability to evoke laughter without second thoughts. The song Salsa is an amazing addition to this movie, and gives us the idea what to expect. It might be one of the funniest and the most catchy songs of recent times, and if you watch the movie, you will understand its relevance better. It is the master idea, and all the characters shown in the song come together here – to be frank, there is no real hero in this movie as all of them contributes in a similar manner with only slight variations in the degree.

Claws of flaw :: It is not in the story that the movie tries to assert its strength, and due to the same, there is nothing much there if you look at it. If you are searching for logic all the time, you shouldn’t be here either; but if you look for smartness in film-making, it is right here; of which reflections are strong. The movie also doesn’t begin that well or ends that nice as one would expect considering the middle part. I would have wished for a more feel-good ending rather than the somewhat funny one. In a movie which has this kind of a setting, the upstanding use of robust feel-good factor could have been not just a gemstone, but the Philosopher’s Stone for the totality which would have in return, made the rating better. The situations created in this movie are not all right there with the requisite strength, but stands the test of time due to the execution and the performances of the actors.

Performers of the soul :: There is no particular hero in this movie, if you look at it. Yes, the central character is played by Vineeth Sreenivasan and his Kunjiraman the is part of the title too. The movie’s ability to create laughter has been shared here, and so is the whole plot. As the titular hero spends a lot of his time not being part of his village, the others are forced to take control, and this radical transposition of control surprisingly brings the equilibrium. This transfered control from Vineeth in full form is taken over by a team of actors who handles the comic side amazingly well. Consider the senior actor himself, Mamukkoya who has some of the most memorable dialogues in this movie, and the biggest of them is related to death, and there is the veteran hitting the Bull’s Eye.

More performers of the soul :: Among the young faces, Aju Varghese is once again the biggest asset; he was restricted to a very small presence in Jamna Pyari, but he is here, making full impact. He is the heart of the comic side, and his best moment is related to the night before the marriage of the character played by Sneha Unnikrishnan – she has also done a small, but impressively funny job in what I believe to be her second movie. You can’t forget his moment with the crow either, as you might have seen in the Salsa song – it is also mostly his song. Neeraj Madhav and Deepak Parambol basically shares their glory; they work together really well – these two with Aju got the comic side to the perfect strength; add Bijukuttan to it and you have no reason not to laugh.

Further performers of the soul :: With all of them doing their jobs so well and Vineeth Sreenivasan reminding us of some of those nice and funny characters played by his father, we have Dhyan Sreenivasan doing a fair job – I am sure that I liked him a lot better in Thira; he is still a lot of fun here, and got some hilarious moments. Biju Menon’s voice introduces the characters and he as well as Rimi Tomy has smaller appearances in this movie. Srinda Ashab has her moments of laughter, but she is only repeating what she has already done. Arya has a smaller role too, but her presence makes three heroines here. Sneha is the more charming one among the three because the comic side takes a little bit too much of the rest. Well, they don’t even show the most significant female character for most of the movie and keeps it as a surprise!

How it finishes :: I am not the one to talk about collections right now, because the certainty is only in the fact that Kunjiramayanam is the movie to win the hearts with its light-hearted comedy for the family audience. It basically has two things which it converts into its comic side, and they are alcohol and marriage – they have also kept these things in control. Well, we can be sure that Basil Joseph is a director with a lot of skill right there, as we notice what he has created through this movie which had to fight bigger flicks during this Onam, starting from the most awaited Loham itself – may this debut be the stepping stone to the heights which are waiting for him. Once again, I wish you Happy Onam as the festival season fades away!

Release date: 28th August 2015
Running time: 123 minutes
Directed by: Basil Joseph
Starring: Vineeth Sreenivasan, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Aju Varghese, Arya Rohit, Neeraj Madhav, Bijukuttan, Sneha Unnikrishnan, Srinda Ashab, Mamukkoya, Deepak Parambol, Sudheer Karamana, Indrans, Seema G Nair, Sasi Kalinga, Biju Menon (cameo), Rimi Tomy (cameo)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Jamna Pyari

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Tennyson

What is it about? :: Vasoottan (Kunchako Boban) is an auto-rickshaw driver and the son of a man who died trying to rescue a kid from inside a bus which crashed into river during heavy monsoon. He is a person who follows his father’s footsteps and never tries to back away from helping someone in need – he has been the helping hand of the common man at his town for a long time. One day, he meets a girl Parvathi (Gayathri Suresh) and she asks for his help. What her family needs is a total of one hundred Jamnapari goats for their farm, so that they can meet the deadline for a contract or lose their property. There are big shots who are standing in their way. Vasoottan decides to help them with the support of his friends Prakash (Joy Mathew) and Sabu (Suraj Venjaramoodu) along with Tony (Neeraj Madhav) who later joins them. But there are some problems which they have to overcome on their way to success.

The defence of Jamna Pyari :: For this Onam, what comes to the screen in the form of Jamna Pyari is a simple family movie with drama and comedy factors being there. There are mostly no ups and downs with this movie as the major focus is on the protagonist’s goodness, and also to provide the viewers with a feel-good effect. It is just the life of common man depicted with the help of an incident which centers around the goat. The mixture that forms part of the movie are mostly of a family drama, and also the light-hearted comedy, light romance and the typical feel-good movie. The Vasoottan song is very good and sets the mood for the movie. There are also good visuals of different parts of Kerala along with some areas of Tamil Nadu. The humour comes up interesting here and there. The Thrissur slang is interesting throughout the movie.

Claws of flaw :: The movie doesn’t really have a new thing here except for having a goat at the centre of everything. It does remember one of having watched Polytechnic which starred Kunchako Boban and he was there solving his own problems, and here he is like Jayasurya of Mathai Kuzhappakkaranalla, as an auto-rickshaw driver ready to help others. Most of the characters in this movie are under-used, and so is the goat idea. The hesitation to use more of the goats to create further comedy was surprising – there is a little too less amount of comedy in this one rather than what was expected. The final use of deus ex machina just arrives as if to bring us to an end. There are too many easy paths taken in this movie when things could have been nicely detailed with full humour, also adding further beauty to the romantic side!

Performers of the soul :: With Kunchako Boban who has been the first big romantic hero whom we remember, and also with Gayathri Suresh who was the Miss Kerala in 2014, couldn’t this movie explore the romantic side better? The romantic hero and the beauty are there, and the movie just misses out too much with those opportunities. Kunchako Boban is excellent in this avatar too, even when his character is often let down by the situations. This is a comfortable role for him, and he never falters. Gayathri is here doing a very good debut, and might be the prettiest face for a very long time. Her dialogue delivery was so cute in this one. May be she could have had even more screen presence, because the true setting is around the family of her character, and twist of events begin with her journey in the auto-rickshaw.

More performers of the soul :: So we welcome the new heroine Gayathri Suresh to the Malayalam movie industry during this Onam, and take this opportunity to wish her best of luck as the number of new heroines with charm and high potential increase by one. Along with the same, we see the large number of known faces being there as the supporting cast. But the depressing side is that they are so less used. You see actors like Sudheer Karamana and Pashanam Shaji for just a few minutes, and even though Aju Varghese is there on most of the posters, he has a very small role in this movie as a friend of the protagonist who comes in the beginning and the end. Neeraj Madhav is the one who comes up with the funniest moments, but we ask for even more.

Further performers of the soul :: Joy Mathew remains rock solid here all the way, and Suraj Venjaramoodu has his moments of comedy, even though he too should have been used for a full comedy character. The big surprise here is Renji Panicker’s different avatar – this might be the first time that he comes to the big screen as a villain. He remains a fine negative character throughout the movie, and you can expect more roles with negative shades coming up for him considering the fact that he did so well in this movie which doesn’t focus that much on characterization. I consider this a true pleasant surprise! Meanwhile, it was good to see Muthumani providing nice support to Suraj in the comic side. You will get another surprise in the form of Roja’s cameo, and Anumol is also there in a smaller role

How it finishes :: Sometimes I think that I am lenient with this movie which doesn’t bring anything huge, but thinking deeper about this, this movie leaves us with beautiful messages, to help people in need, and work hard to achieve what we love and need the most. I consider this a fine message for this Onam, and this message raises the level of this movie further, and it is always better to have something wonderful to think about and let it have a positive effect on our lives. I am a pessimistic person, and some of the dialogues and messages in the movie did bring a smile on my face. Therefore, lets continue to enjoy this festival season of Onam and add this movie to the list of flicks to watch! What is an Onam if we don’t watch all the big Malayalam releases for the season? May be you can start with the feel-good factor of this movie.

Release date: 27th August 2015
Running time: 126 minutes
Directed by: Thomas Sebastian
Starring: Kunchacko Boban, Gayathri Suresh, Joy Mathew, Muthumani Somasundaran, Neeraj Madhav, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Aju Varghese, Maniyanpilla Raju, Anju Aravind, Sudheer Karamana, Pashanam Shaji, Anumol, Roja Selvamani

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ayal Njanalla

Posted on August 1, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Then who is he?

Vampire Bat :: We have to watch to find out who he is and also about who the others are.

Vampire Owl :: With a title saying “he is not me”, I have to think that he is worried of his own existence. May be he has taken the place of someone else, or another person has taken his place. Otherwise why would he need to say that?

Vampire Bat :: May be he has an evil twin, like Lady Death having an evil twin sister.

Vampire Owl :: Why are we not watching Drishyam this time? We have already watched it in two languages. There is seems to be not much rush for that too.

Vampire Bat :: Well, everyone in the South has watched at least one version of the movie, and most of the Indians have also given one of them a watch. There are not many people left to watch a Drishyam.

Vampire Owl :: Still, we will watch it?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, may be later, depending upon how long that movie stays here.

Vampire Owl :: Well, it has been some time since we saw Fahadh Faasil.

Vampire Bat :: Well, his movies this year have been Mariyam Mukku and Haram. It is not fair for a person of his calibre.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: Prakashan (Fahadh Faasil) is a young Malayali who migrated to a village near the Rann of Kutch when he failed in the tenth standard, and is living with his uncle (TG Ravi), as they work with tyre repair in a small shop on the side of the road. After the death of his uncle, he is left with a big amount to pay to a moneylender who lock down the shop and gives him just one week to pay the money before he unleashes hell with the help of the police who are in his pocket. Prakashan decides to pay by selling his ancestral property in Kerala which he hasn’t seen for years, and return to Gujarat to go back to Esha (Mrudula Murali) whom he loves. He goes to Bangalore to find his old friend who has offered to help him, and there he will know that he looks a lot like a Malayalam actor.

Performers of the soul :: Fahadh Faasil’s performance once again become the highlight, and he scores the most in the Kutch sequences. His comic side gets the better score in the middle part of the movie though, as he gets misunderstood as someone else. His performance is actually far above the level of this movie, as you have seen with many other flicks. Yes, he is back after Haram and Mariyam Mukku, the two flicks of the year with him in the lead and had failed to leave a mark. Unlike what people think, there is no two of him on the screen, as him acting as the actor who is himself, never really comes to the picture. There are two phases of his life for sure, and he has done both of them very well with the versatility that he has always displayed. Even when put in the worst movie, he does his part so well – you have seen that in Olipporu.

More performers of the soul :: There seems to be a lot of less seen faces in this movie, but the most significant one is Mrudula Murali who plays the role of the Gujarati damsel and the love interest of the protagonist. She looks stunning in that traditional clothing, and she does seem to be suited for comedy as well as romantic roles, from the time for which she is there – could have been there for more. Actually, none of the actresses have much time on the screen. The next heroine Divya Pillai might have a little more screen time, and just looks very good but with no scope in there to make any impact and she doesn’t. Aileena Catherin Amon, who was crowned Miss South India 2015 also comes in a noticeable role which she manages well. There are a lot of good new faces in this movie as the fans of the actor and friends of the leading lady.

Further performers of the soul :: Tini Tom and Noby Marcose provides some interesting funny moments, and it is good to see that the latter is getting a significant role which he plays throughout the Kerala side of the story in this movie. I have always loved his performances more than the others in Vodafone Comedy Stars. Sreekumar is a big bonus to the comic side here, and he has his moments which gets the cheer. We need to see him on the big screen more often. Akshat Singh who is known with his performance in India’s Got Talent makes his film debut here, and also does a small dance performance in the movie – he will be better known to the Malayali audience now, and they will love him if they watch the movie. Ranji Panicker does the predictable here, with the role like Pratap K. Pothen has done in a number of movies.

The defence of Ayaal Njanalla :: The movie has comedy which works well, and all the actors have contributed directly or indirectly to the same. There are moments which are nicely used to get good effect on the audience, and the repetitive story is made interesting by adding the fun and also with the performances. The shots of Kutch are very beautiful, and there is no shortage of good looking people in this movie. This the debut movie of the actor Vineeth Kumar turning director, and he has a nice beginning here – may be he could have asked for a bigger story to work on; still he manages to make this work with the feel-good factor which has been utilized to give the viewers the needed feeling; still more jokes could have been added and the romantic side should have been gone better.

Claws of flaw :: The movie often struggles to keep its level throughout. The situations are those which we have seen before in some way or the other. There is not much of a story here, as everything seems to be just a small work stretched beyond its capabilities, and still it finishes off too fast in the end, without adding an interesting climax – a happy ending is just brought and forced out of nowhere. They were surely in a hurry to finish this one after making too long for the content – wonder why! The visuals outside Gujarat is ordinary, and so are the songs and the background music. At times, it does make the audience where it is actually heading for. The movie never really had much hype even though it has Fahadh Faasil returning in a different avatar, and that could really affect the collections – even Jilebi had better promotions around.

Release date: 31st July 2015
Running time: 148 minutes
Directed by: Vineeth Kumar
Starring: Fahadh Faasil, Mrudula Murali, Diya Pillai, Aileena Catherin Amon, Tini Tom, Noby Marcose, Sreekumar, Ranji Panicker, Akshat Singh, TG Ravi, Dileesh Nair, Jins Baskar, Sreekanth Menon, JK Nair

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Love 24×7

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Tennyson

What is it about? :: Roopesh Nambiar (Dileep) is a well-known television presenter and anchor working for a popular channel called Naalamidam. He enjoys almost a celebrity status among the people with his special shows. Kabani Sugathan (Nikhila Vimal) is a trainee who joins the channel, and very soon, the two become very close to each other, falling in love. Umar Abdullah (Sreenivasan) is a godfather kind of figure for them, and also their superior. Dr. Sarayu (Suhasini) is a family friend of Roopesh and Kabani’s stay is arranged with her. With her husband dead and son living the United States of America with his wife and child, she feels lonely, but is happy with the company of her old friend Dr. Satheesh (Sashi Kumar) who is a divorcee. Things seem happy, but is it really so?

The defence of Love 24×7 :: The biggest advantage of this movie is the first half which never drags or bores even for a second. There is a happy feel-good thing going on here and with some nice jokes within the limits, this movie keeps our interests high going into the second half. The first one hour and a few minutes can be considered as realistic and charming happy hours which do this movie a lot of good. The performances make sure that things work as expected. There is the presence of not many cliches here, and despite a big tendency, this one doesn’t go the way of another movie with Dileep and the same theme – Swa Le. There is a certain message against the coporate culture and capitalism, and even though that too struggles, it is the better one among them all; the rest are incomplete and meaningless.

The claws of flaw :: The characters are not without faults. Kabani remains the most developed character here, but that too is not without a struggle. The second half starts going down, and the latter part of the second half goes a lot further down. The climax has the incompleteness of the main plot, and chooses to complete the secondary plot and gives us the idea that it will complete like the secondary one some day later. It is like completing the secondary mission in a computer game and failing to finish the main objective, which will be considered a loss in that case. Well, the message that the life repeats itself has very rare chance of happening, and so this incompleteness waiting for a complete flourish and finish later is unreal. The messages which seem to be incompletely told are all pretty much ridiculous.

Performer of the soul :: I had missed Dileep’s earlier movie, Chandrettan Evideya due to having some exams, but I did hear from my trusted sources that it was a nice change for Dileep, and this one also proves to be the same. His last movies from Kammath & Kammath through Sringaravelan and Nadodimannan reaching Villali Veeran and Ivan Maryadaraman is not kind of Dileep that we wanted. They were all too repetitive, and going down in quality even as simple comedy movies – terrible jokes were increasing. But this movie bring the man back to the audience with that change which is readily acceptable. There is no need for big performances here, and it is a role which should have come easy for an experienced actor like Dileep, and he just manages things. Yes, Dileep is back and has moved away from the fake entertainers brought to the audience in the name of comedy.

The lady soul :: The rest of the cast also evokes our interest. Among them, you notice a beautiful face you have never seen before. The newcomer Nikhila Vimal does very well in a role which demanded more than one mode of performance, and in every case she manages her side with utmost sincerity, as it seems – a quality rarely found with a new actress. She is there are the struggling newbie from a rural background and then as the news anchor in a leading channel; the former remains her finer territory. Emoting without any impediment and the slang working very well for her, she adds to the list of the interesting new faces in the Malayalam movie industry. Seemingly very natural in her beauty and the performance, her only problems come from the story and the characterization, because it is clear that she has given a notable performance. The final few moments do her as well as her character no favour though.

The other performers of the soul :: We have Suhasini back in Malayalam movies again; even though she was there in Kalimannu, she hasn’t been that much present in a big way in the Malayalam movies since 2009 flick Makante Achan. It is good to see her doing an interesting and emotional role again. Sashi Kumar also looked so good in his performance, as with him, there was a certain amount of charm even to a character which was going to go unnoticed in a normal situation of events. There is a certain search about the cast done whenever the actors list is provided, and this one has lead me to a movie called Kaya Taran directed by this same actor, and reading on the same gives a feeling to know more about the work. Sreenivasan and Lena Abhilash has the roles which are no trouble to them.

How it finishes :: The director of this movie, Sreebala K Menon is also an author who won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for ‘Best Humor’ for her work – 19, Canal Road in 2005. She is also known to come up with some socially relevant short films and documentaries. She has worked as the assistant director in a number of movies, and it is time to welcome her to the Malayalam movie industry and Love 24×7 will do just fine. Love 24×7 should do okay this weekend because none of the Malayalam movies have managed to really meet the expectations. There are movies which can be watched, but none to create that impact which should be part of the festival season. Let us hope that these Malayalam movies stay enough for people to watch at the theatres itself.

Release date: 18th July 2015
Running time: 137 minutes
Directed by: Sreebala K Menon
Starring: Dileep, Nikhila Vimal, Anjali Aneesh Upasana, Idavela Babu, Lena Abhilash, Suhasini Maniratnam, Manju Pillai, Thesni Khan, Sashi Kumar, Krishna Prabha, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Sudhi Koppa, Sidhartha Siva

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Madhura Naranga

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Do you know that there are three other Malayalam movies to watch as interesting choices are there?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, it is why we are standing here in the queue from the morning itself.

Vampire Owl :: Tough times, isn’t it? Malayalam movies haven’t been doing well enough since that big Premam and Ivide weekend.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, non-Malayalam movies are taking away all the glory. But this might be the weekend on which we fight back.

Vampire Owl :: But are you sure about this choice?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, even if this movie is not good enough, we will watch another movie after this and make sure that we leave for home as happy vampires.

Vampire Owl :: If the second movie is not goo too, then what will we do?

Vampire Bat :: We will watch another one. Actually there are four shows at the theatres here; 11:30, 2:30, 6:15, 9:15. We can always try four different movies today. If you are ready to go to a mall with multiplex, we can do even better.

Vampire Owl :: You are seriously trying to feed me brain damage in the form of too many movies on a day.

Vampire Bat :: I have come very close so far, haven’t I?

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: After a few early minutes in Sri Lanka, the movie takes a flashback to Sharjah. Jeevan (Kunchako Boban), Salim (Biju Menon) and Kumar (Neeraj Madhav) are just three among the large number of Malayalis working in the UAE and are sharing a house. One day, as Jeevan driving his cab, he finds a girl in trouble and brings her home. The girl is Thamara (Parvathy Ratheesh), a Sri Lankan Tamil who has escaped after being trafficked from her home country. Even though she has almost killed someone while trying to escape, Jeevan is attracted to her, and decides not to let her go in spite of being aware of the consequences. They hope to arrange a fake passport and get her back to Sri Lanka, but things were only going to get further complicated.

The defence of Madhura Naranga :: There is an interesting mix of comedy, romance and drama in this one without having any overdose. The fun mostly rests with the middle part of the movie. The presence of a humane touch in the movie is interesting. The ending scenes are touching and performances are of good quality. The beauty of UAE and also Sri Lanka up-to an extent are nicely captured – I would have wished for more shots in the island country. It is also fair not to have an India-Pakistan love story here because it has been used to death in Bollywood and was also used before in Malayalam movie industry to not that much effect. There were a few claps in the end; it asserts that the ending was effective.

The claws of flaw :: This might not be exactly the kind of movie which most of the audience would be expecting. There is no full comedy movie for which our heroes here are specialized in. There are just too many songs too than needed, and there is no improvement in quality over that quantity. The basic plot could have been better developed if it had gone on among the migrant workers, and if the focus was more on the problems which they faced. Instead, they have taken the easy way out in introducing the girl. There is also no real cinematic beauty in the romance; it progresses okay, but it begins in a weak manner. May be some thrills could have been added here and there too; it is too predictable in the current form. The medium could have been better used to bring a message.

Performers of the soul :: Kunchako Boban once again plays a role which is not new to him, and his team with Biju Menon does show signs of former glory even as it is not completely there. It is not fair to expect something like Ordinary which had a full half of comedy or Seniors which was just a complete comedy movie. Biju Menon has some nice comic dialogues, and Neeraj Madhav has a few interesting ones even though not many. Parvathy Ratheesh is a good addition to the Malayalam movie industry. Even as she doesn’t have to speak even one Malayalam word in this movie, she is right there with the emotions and expressions. It will be nice to see her in roles with more variety. Suraj Venjaramoodu has a smaller, but funny character which he manages with ease. There is no struggle there.

How it finishes :: The movie which deviates from a usual Kunchako Boban-Biju Menon comedy entertainer has its biggest enemy as the rain. It has been heavy downpour throughout the day, and the audience presence was quite low. Even though they might feel strange about not getting exactly what they wanted, they can be satisfied with how the movie ends and how it manages to be emotionally strong with some fine performances, even from Parvathy Ratheesh who doesn’t really show the signs of a newcomer. The performance of this movie should depend on how the other flicks work. They could have sacrificed the overall clean stuff and the songs here for some twists and some extra comedy. They have said that this is based on a true story, but little liberties would have only made this one more engaging.

Theatre situation :: There are three other Malayalam movies challenging this one – Dileep’s Love 24X7 seems to have the crowd favourite star in a different role, and Acha Din will have Mammootty trying to work in a movie which has its own difference. KL.10 Pathu has Unni Mukundan in his own new style, and he also has a new face accompanying him as the leading actress just like the other movies. All four of these movies have female faces new to Malayalam movie industry, and even though the promotions have been less, the competition is going to be very high. Baahubali stays and so does Premam. It will be a big task to battle these two movies, and the continuing presence of Minions in the multiplexes will take a portion of the family audience with them and the new Salman Khan starrer also got the high capability to attract.

Release date: 17th July 2015
Running time: 144 minutes
Directed by: Sugeeth
Starring: Kunchacko Boban, Parvathy Ratheesh, Biju Menon, Neeraj Madhav, Aparna Nair, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Niyaz Becker, Saddique

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Premam

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Tennyson

Vampire Bat: My dear vampire brethren, and the zombies who have decided to joined us by free-will. We have fought many battles together. We have fought side by side in the War of the Four Nations, the Tactical Warfare against the Werewolf Intrusion, the Conquest of the New Vampire World, The Battles against the never-ending Zombie Hordes and even the Magical Attacks of the Dark Elves. Zombies, please erase the zombie horde part from your memories instead of beginning to get offended, and do not return to your graves. But this is nothing like that. This will be the biggest battle that we have ever faced, and a task which is near impossible. It is called getting a ticket for the movie Premam.

Vampire Hamster: This is actually very scary. I need to go home and recharge my courage. I have heard that humans provide courage recharge centres at some religious places. Is it true? We could have also reserved the tickets, right? The ticket reservation is quite common these days.

Vampire Alligator: Can you just shut up and listen to the full speech? This is not even being recorded and you might not score well for the vampire apprentice exams if you miss parts of this which can come as annotation.

Vampire Owl: We don’t do reservations because we won’t support them – don’t you know that vampires are against all kinds of reservations? We are suffering because of this thing which gives nothing for the General Category to which the vampires belong. And you will be banned if you speak between grand, emotional speeches. The Vampire Crow and the Vampire Raven were banned once. Just listen to the speech.

Vampire Bat: We face the monsters here, and they are not like the ones we have faced before. We face the legendary warriors of the other world with human masks. We face those furious humans standing in queue for the movie Premam. We might not make it out of this queue in one piece, but lets fight for our righteous chance to watch this movie. We demand the rights to be equal and watch this movie which almost everybody except us has watched. Yes, even Werewolf Anger has watched it – can you believe that? The Lich Queen has watched it twice. It is the right to the movie ticket that we demand here, and it is clearly written in the vampire constitution, Article 007. Without watching this, we can’t even look at the face of Uncle Dracula, as you know what he is going to ask us when we return to the castle. The Vampire Penguin and the Vampire Panda have tried for this alone and failed, but we will win as this time we attack together after issuing the fake notice that we are not going to attack.

Vampire Panda: This is going to be awesome because I know part-time Kung-fu. You should all watch me and learn.

Vampire Penguin: I told you all that he is Kung-fu Panda in disguise.

Vampire Owl: Most probably, we won’t get tickets this time too, but in the name of Uncle Dracula and all the vampire elders, charge!

Vampire Crocodile: On this day, the night will be day and the day will be night. Attack!

Vampire Bat: What? No! I am the only one authorized to say that! So attack!!!

[Runs to the long queue and stands at the back end in silence].

What is it about? :: George David (Nivin Pauly) who lives in the town of Aluva and studies for pre-degree has completely fallen in love with Mary George (Anupama Parameshwaran) whom he usually sees on the way. She is the local beauty whom a lot of people are after. He has no interest in studies as he moves towards a possible failure in the course, and his only aim seems to be this girl’s love. Helped by his best friends Koya (Krishna Shankar) and Shambu (Shabareesh Varma), he attempts to make her fall in love with her, but that doesn’t go as planned. The movie also tells the story of his two other love interests, a Tamil girl called Malar (Sai Pallavi) with whom he falls in love at the first sight itself, and a girl named Celine (Madonna Sebastian) whom he meets much later as time moves forward through his love stories. His life related to these three ladies and his feelings towards them are depicted in the movie.

The defence of Premam :: By claiming to be the second film in the history of world cinema with nothing new in it, the movie seems to make a psychological move, but the truth is that the move is new if we look at how it is presented on the screen. I would give full credits to Alphonse Puthren for this one. He surely knows what the youth wants, and how to make the best use of Aluva as an Aluvaite. It is is his magic that Premam is such a delight on the big screen. I traveled to Aluva to watch this, and it was clear that there was no Aluvaite left without love and appreciation for this movie. Its nostalgia is powerful, and the central theme of love connects the three paramount pages of the protagonist’s tome of life – only three pages which connects directly to the title of the movie is taken and the word itself is used to make the much needed connection, and it is done in a beautiful way. There is infatuation, but there is no lust, and it is a sure positive thing. The second love story is a forbidden one, and clearly wrong for the standards of our civilized society, and we see poetic justice being served there as it ends in a much deserved tragedy – love fails there for the right reasons only. The comedy is working for most of the run.

The claws of flaw :: Yes, there is nothing new in the story – the liberty which was taken before the release of this movie arrives to make the impact here, and also reminds us that this is what they were talking about. There are some sequences which were aviodable, including the problems between the groups of friends at college and the missing dancer. The first of the three parts also has some exaggeration. The movie could have been shorter too – it would have surely helped the theatres to add another show in the morning to control the big crowd, and the very slight drag could have disappeared too. There is a little too much of drinking and smoking too, but I guess that they have only given the new generation’s normal audience what they wanted – crowd should get what the desired, for the good of the industry. The writings on the screen could have also been avoided, and it should have been left to the audience to come up with such ideas.

Performers of the soul :: Alphonse Puthren, with his brilliance, has given us some memorable characters along with those incidents, and he has also chosen the perfect cast as it seems from the look of it. When we look the performers here, this is “the Nivin Pauly movie” from the beginning to the end, and the way in which he goes through the three stages of his life is simply amazing. Here is another Aluvaite giving us the performance that we will always remember, and his transformations through the movie becomes the big boost. Among the heroines, I would choose Madonna Sebastian as the one making the best impact, with what seems to be her inherent cuteness and the way of dialogue delivery, and above all, as being the “right lady”, she steals the final moments. Sai Pallavi has what might be the best moment though, with the dance steps – she surely has an amazing screen presence. Anupama Parameshwaran is the charming simple beauty who disappears too early. Do look out for Vinay Forrt’s best comic moments too. All young actors deserve some applause here! Also look out for two awesome cameos from Renji Panikker and Jude Anthany Joseph.

How it finishes :: I would consider this movie as the journey of a man from love powered by infatuation to love strengthened by admiration, and then to the love based on commitment here, with those three heroines. Premam is undoubtedly the result of the hardwork of Alphonse Puthren who also comes in a role which he manages very well. All credits to him more making such a simple thing work so well. It is already taking the theatres by storm, and I had to go to the theatre and come back only to try again – these repeated for so many times to watch this movie. I was impressed even when this was not my genre at all, and I can guess how much effect this is having on the normal people. For those who are around Cochin, I would suggest watching this at Aluva and having a walk on the sides of the river and on the aqueduct which are shown in the movie. This movie also has another big personal effect on me – and it is to see the Union Christian College Aluva, on the big screen; I miss the place, and the most shown location in this movie, the college canteen 😀

Release date: 29th May 2015
Running time: 164 minutes
Directed by: Alphonse Puthren
Starring: Nivin Pauly, Madonna Sebastian, Sai Pallavi, Anupama Parameshwaran, Shabareesh Varma, Krishna Shankar, Vinay Forrt, Eva Prakash, Alphonse Puthren, Maniyanpilla Raju, Soubin Shahir, Wilson Joseph, Renji Paniker, Justin John, Hormis Paulachan, Althaf Salim, Anju Kurian, Jude Anthany Joseph, Sharafudeen, Maju Mathew, Rinsa Jacob, Vivek Vinod, Mahadev Ramakrishnan, Faisal, Manek Jose, Sandeep Varma, Viswajith Odukkathil, Vimal Pillai, Aishwarya R. Nair, Zuhair Sait, Deepak Nathan (I have put the whole list from wherever I could dig the names out, because they have all contributed so well)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Mathai Kuzhappakkaranalla

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: This sounds like Lal Bhahadur Shatri’s continuation. I am not coming.

Vampire Bat :: There is just Jayasurya playing a very good guy, otherwise this should be different. Anyway, you didn’t watch even that movie yet. There is also a shot of Jayasurya and Bhama having tea together. Remember the word “tea”.

Vampire Owl :: So what? I don’t need to watch feel-good. I can sense them. They are all going to be the same.

Vampire Bat :: Do you know that you are prejudiced?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, and it has saved me from watching bad movies. But I see that it is not working for you, and the same is spreading for you and affecting me.

Vampire Bat :: Then what are you going to do now as you are free?

Vampire Owl :: I am going to visit the Thommankuthu Waterfalls and think about more ideas on owlifying the world. The tea there is good; it helps one to think.

Vampire Bat :: What about your zombie minions?

Vampire Owl :: They have been called for some work at the Dracula Castle. We can’t deny the services when Uncle Dracula asks, can we?

Vampire Bat :: He gets all the movies at the castle. He is one lucky guy, isn’t he?

[Starts the car].

What is it about? :: The story is that of an auto-driver in Thrissur called Mathai (Jayasurya) who is too good a man at heart and wants to solve all the problems in the world in whichever way possible. He spends his time trying his best and often gets into trouble for the same, never really giving him a positive effect, but he keeps trying again and again as if his life depends on him; he hopes that one day, everything will be awesome. His fiancee Anna (Bhama) is an assistant to a leading advocate in Kottayam, and as he comes to bring her back to Thrissur on a harthal day, it seems that he has lots of time in hand and wanders around in the area. At the same time, Nandakumar (Mukesh) is a heart surgeon who lives with his wife and child and is always having problems in his life due to his mother-in-law creating troubles. When Mathai comes to visit the doctor whom he had once helped when in trouble, the wife and child were no longer with him due to an issue concerning a wedding anniversary, and he decides that he should solve this problem for the doctor. But is a simple man like Mathai good enough to solve the rich woman’s ego?

The defence of Mathai Kuzhappakkaranalla :: The movie is both a preacher and a family counselor as it keeps trying to bring up all the problems in the family life and solve it from the beginning to the end. This is kind of a pre-marital course, and one has to say that it will be very of nice of the church to cancel the pre-marital course and use this movie instead, or it can directly give approval to anyone who has watched this movie – may be they can show the movie tickets to get approval. Yes, it is that kind of a movie, and not like Lal Bahadur Shastri as one might have expected. There is the good attempt to make things work and make it connected to the family audience. It starts off well, with our protagonist involving in the problems of one of his acquaintances and try to solve things only to make it worse. It is actually more funny in the first half. The cast has managed things well, and there is some humour lurking around all the time. Note that there is no romance in this one despite having the pair of Ivar Vivahitharayal, Janapriyan and Oru Black and White Kudumbam.

Claws of flaw :: The preachy nature of the movie often works against it, as people can get irritated at times, especially when the emotions fail to work and the humour almost disappears. Then it gets weaker, and makes so much of a lesser impact, and ends the movie in a predictable manner, with not much to cheer about – it is kind of a forced end, as if the classes are dispersed after all those lessons taught, and now it is time to go home and try the same. There is nothing that we haven’t seen before; remember the Mohanlal-Meera Jasmine starrer Innathe Chinthavishayam in which the hero and heroine attempted to save the marriages of three women? Yes, it is the same thing here, as our hero and heroine tries to unite a doctor and his wife. But this is not that good as the Mohanlal starrer, and is also restricted to two houses in action. Yes, there is the Aristotlean Unities at work here, of time, place (somewhat) and action. If you liked Innathe Chinthavishayam, there is a chance that you will like this one, otherwise, it is questionable – with no innovation and no good script.

Performers of the soul :: Jayasurya is the character we are talking about in the title, and he once again shines as the simple character full of goodness – check Lal Bahadur Shastri and Apothecary models, and he once again uses the Thrissur slang like in Punyalan Agarbathis and it works like a dream for him. Mathai is another character in the comfort zone for him, and it is him who handles things here in the movie with the best quality. The feeling of the common man or the guy next door might be something that comes naturally to him. Bhama doesn’t lag behind in that, and even as she comes into the picture in a big way only in the second half, she joins the preaching and does fine. She also seems comfortable in this simple role. Mukesh is fine and has no challenge here at any moment; this is something that a versatile actor like him could do with ease. Lakshmi Gopalaswami is fine with her predictable character. Sreejith Ravi was very good in another avatar here, and he handles a lot of humour in this one and never falters – his character could have had a better handling though.

Soul exploration :: Mathai Kuzhappakkaranalla has its own value in the contemporary society. People can question the product, but not the intentions, and scope for giving a good lesson, and this is where Akku Akbar gets the applause. The Dolphins did do the same, but it came too late to make that movie better. But our movie here shows how the world is changing in favour of ego and selfishness in a relationship, which in turns destroys it as the unconditional love itself is taken out and the whole thing remains as nothing more than a contract for mutual satisfaction. The movie has a husband who is a very busy surgeon having no time for family and a wife who want her husband to prefer her lavish parties over saving a human life. The advice that the wife gets from her mother contributes in the worst possible manner. There is also the idea of having a high status in a society and developing hatred for the common man. In the name of status and money, people tend to become less human, not just towards the outsiders, but also to one’s own people. Well, what is this “maintaining status” than showing off?

How it finishes :: Akku Akbar has to be appreciated for taking this topic which never losses the charm and the value in a society which keeps going further down with its family values in an age of ego leading to divorce. It is something which should be saved from the attack of the new generation movies which often ends up working in the exact opposite manner. But one can only wish that this was told in a better way rather than being too preachy. Our audience don’t accept such things, because it is like being told what to do. There is too much of it. If it was told in another way, things would have worked so much better, there is no doubt about it. Coming from a director who has been doing movies with family themes so well, let’s hope that he will come up with something a lot better next time. Until then, Angels seems to be the winner, even as there will be the question about how much it can score at the box-office seeing the status at the theatres. Penguins of Madagascar will take some family audience away from this one too, that is for sure.

Release date: 28th November 2014
Running time: 110 minutes (estimate)
Directed by: Akku Akbar
Starring: Jayasurya, Bhama, Mukesh, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Sreejith Ravi, Thesni Khan, Sasi Kallinga, Jayaraj Warrier

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: You are going to watch another historical movie?

Vampire Bat :: No, this isn’t about India’s second Prime Minister.

Vampire Owl :: So, there is not even a Chief Minister in this one?

Vampire Bat :: No, not even an MLA. Its like Bal Gangadhar Tilak consists of Balan, Gangadharan and Thilakan; remember that old joke? So, this one should have Lal, Bahadhur and Shastri.

Vampire Owl :: Disrespectful indeed. I am not watching this.

Vampire Bat :: You have always been looking for an opportunity not to watch a Malayalam movie. So, that is a lame excuse.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, I need this excuse. You sit in there to study, and with the points noted down in the mind, you write them down as reviews. May be someone will valuate it someday and give you a job. Then, I can try not to be distracted and spend the rest of my life not watching movies and always planning to owlify the world.

Vampire Bat :: You don’t need more feel-good?

Vampire Owl :: No, such movies are too cute, plus I need feel-bad or feel-evil. I quit – may be until weekend.

Vampire Bat :: Take the route through the cemetery. Your zombie team is resting there counting the bones. You never really pay them for the work.

[Gets the ticket].

What is it about? :: The movie tells the story of three strangers, whose paths cross on an eventful day in the city of Cochin. All of them are from around Aleppey and meeting each other at Cochin. Lal (Jayasurya) is a simple man with a good heart, still looking for a job at the age around thirty, and travels to the city for the same reason. He is the one who acts as the narrator at times too. Bahadhur (Nedumudi Venu), a former panchayat president, is an alcohol addict with a weakness for women, but spends his time without bothering others. He goes to the city to visit his fellow alcoholic friend who is in the hospital. Shastri (Aju Varghese) is a young man in the farming field who has his own problems in life. He is in the city to get some of his papers passed from the agricultural office. The next significant character who arrives at the same city is Thaara (Sandra Simon) who works as a nurse at a hospital there. A lot of incidents happen following an accident, and by the interval, things get to revolve around a lottery ticket which becomes the major factor in solving all the problems.

The defence of Lal Bahadur Shastri :: Lal Bahadur Shastri makes its entrance into the feel-good genre and make it work. With its simple characters who are like those among the audience, the movie progresses in an interesting way, and keeps the audience interested. Never losing its flow, there is no boring moment here, even as this movie is more of a drama than anything else. The joints of the stories all also nicely done, and the characters fit in there quite nicely, with situations well managed. There are also some heart-touching moments, as the movie successfully manages its emotional side with the needed ingredients, and this achievement also has its cast to thank. The humour is also good, even as more could have been included. There is only hundred percent decent comedy in this one making it an even better choice for the family audience. There is also a light tone running throughout the movie, never letting things go out of control into the darker shades.

Claws of flaw :: Lal Bahadur Shastri follows a predictable path, even as there are little twists here and there. This idea of having different characters crossing their paths on one big day on a big city has been tried on a lot of occasions, including the critically acclaimed Traffic, its successor Friday, and even in Money Rathnam up-to an extent. The beginning is also kind of unnecessary showing Jayasurya’s character grow up – there was never a need, and is of no value to the story. The plot is not thick, as it depends too much on the creation of confusions, and the “just missed” moments which are recreated to bring the needed effects on the story-line. The scope for humour is not fully utilized, especially with Aju Varghese there (his character even talks about having twins nicely reflecting his real self to bring some nice humour). Those who don’t want to watch another feel-good movie with nice morality elements can skip this movie too.

Performers of the soul :: Jayasurya comes up with a controlled show here, as a character which has worked so well for him, like in Janapriyan and Apothecary; the good and simple man from the village has never been a role which was supposed to challenge someone like him who has been proving his versatility for sometime. Nedumudi Venu has a role similar to what he did in North 24 Kaatham, but here it is a character with more flaws. Aju Varghese is once again doing his job, but this one has less comic scenes for him. Sandra Simon has a very good presence in this movie, even as there is not much here to test her – but does well and lets welcome her to the Malayalam movie industry, wishing her best of luck for the future in this field. One would wonder if there is a show stealer in this movie, and it is Master Minon, who won the National and State film awards for the best child artist with his performance in 101 Chodyangal – when we think that the movie is going to be about the three main characters, this kid comes up in the second half, taking his simple first half presence to a new level. Kavitha Nair’s small role is very much notable too. We can also see Noby, Mala and Lakshmipriya in shorter, but memorable comedy roles.

Soul exploration :: The movie focuses on good people and how they are rewarded, despite going through troubles. It has the message that goodness will rarely go unnoticed, and this movie has so many things which seem to work against the reward, but it finally finds the way. There is also an assertion on the need to do the right thing when the time comes, not thinking about the benefits. If the divine will is on your favour, or may be if destiny is awaitings, good things tend to happen. It is a reassuring message given into a world of chaos, in a society where people rarely care about the other, and there are doubts about any divine intervention and the value for karma. This is why Lal Bahadur Shastri is a good effort, and at at time it is cool to be evil, when being good is not considered the fashion, this movie tells the viewers that it is to be done because it is the right thing. Well, how many people think about the same? The only thing people and media care about are things like people who want to kiss, people who want to watch kiss and people who want to stop kiss – when focus should be on something good or productive.

How it finishes :: Lal Bahadur Shastri is strong in the theatres due to the presence of Jayasurya and Aju Varghese. It is actually present in more theatres than one might have expected it to. A major problem should be with its name though, as it is almost impossible to feel that a movie with such a name would be interesting – no creativity in there; otherwise why would someone choose the name of a former Prime Minister of India, and there is the joke which is years old, taking Lal, Bahadhur and Shastri as three names which seems to have influenced the title. Are we short of good titles, and does it seem that each and everyone of them are used? I wouldn’t think so. Nevertheless, Lal Bahadur Shastri has enough power to impress the family audience, and anybody who wishes to have some feel-good experience will surely try to give this one a chance. That should be where this movie should be targetting and winning its battle in the process.

Release date: 21st November 2014
Running time: 110 minutes (estimate)
Directed by: Rejishh Midhila
Starring: Jayasurya, Nedumudi Venu, Aju Varghese, Sandra Simon, Kavitha Nair, Adwaith Jayasurya, Lakshmipriya, Aiswarya Nath, Nandhu, Mala Aravindan, Master Minon, Noby Marcose

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ormayundo Ee Mukham

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Did you say the word soul?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, I said that this movie talks about soul-mates.

Vampire Owl :: Dude, that is totally so evil. Like the souls in The Conjuring?

Vampire Bat :: Not that soul, the one that they say related to romance, like in Romeo and Juliet, Uncle Dracula and Mina Harker in the undead form or even like cardamom and tea.

Vampire Owl :: How disappointing. You should go for it alone then. It doesn’t fit my plans at all. I won’t recommend that for you either, as you are a cynic.

Vampire Bat :: But I can take that. I can have even tea, lime juice and milkshake together. I can take them all together.

Vampire Owl :: Yes, you are the one who watched three movies of entirely different genres at two different malls on one day and survived to tell the tale. Yes, I know that.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, and I repeated that performance.

Vampire Owl :: You have even transformed me into a movie watcher. You are a bad influence. I should go back to my intelligent evil plans to conquer the world.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, do take the shovel to dig up your buried plans.

[Starts the car].

What is it about? :: Gautham (Vineeth Sreenivasan) is a young businessman with an MBA from the United Kingdom, but is struggling with handling his father’s business at home due to his tension, lack of confidence and inability to memorize significant things related to business. His mother Vasundhara Devi (Rohini) struggles to keep the business going all by himself, and helping them in all that, is Gautham’s best friend Apoorva (Aju Varghese). Nithya (Namitha Pramod) enters their world as Gautham is forced to marry the daughter of a family friend as is attempting to make an escape. She is a sand artist and an orphan, with only the support of her sister Neethu (Soumya Sadanandan) and a family friend Dr. John Kuruvila (Mukesh) who is treating Nithya for her short term memory loss. Even as Nithya and Gautham gets really close, she doesn’t remember who he is, when they meet on the next day. Even as his well-wishers warn him against falling with love with her, he is adamant on making her remember him and stay in her mind forever.

The defence of Ormayundo Ee Mukham :: The move is cute, and there is no need for summoning an oracle from Delphi to tell you that, as it was evident from the trailer itself. The songs are good and nicely complimenting the movie, even if not that much to remember when standing alone. There is the feel-good factor and it also exists with the power to strike the hearts. The funny side is strong, with Aju Varghese handling things so well, and there are some really memorable moments with him and Soumya Sadanandan, and some more when Facebook, Whatsapp and some of the big movies and its dialogues or even songs are made fun of. Coming from the debutante Anvar Sadik, this is a great start for him, especially when experienced ones struggle a lot – no don’t look at Bollywood, that should be a shocking scene. The cinematography is excellent too. There is also the beauty of love, even as it is overdone with some dialogues, work nicely against the world of dumb new generation pseudo-love which we have to suffer from on many occasions. This one is extremely sweet and successfully delivers the feel-good factor.

Claws of flaw :: The movie seems to have been inspired by the 2004 movie 50 First Dates, but the director here has given the fact that he is influenced by Hollywood romantic movies just before the beginning of this flick. There is also the mentioning of a number of movies in the middle of this, and may be that will keep those who are complaining happy. Well, romance and comedy are two things that can be taken and changed to suit a different world and culture, and therefore, that trouble should be forgiven. This is also quite predictable with not much in the story and struggling to make things happen, especially for those who have watched a lot of romantic comedies from English, especially the Adam Sandler starrer. The end is just what we expect, and there is the extended final moment which shouldn’t have been there. They could have tried harder with this one, as there are moments which seems to be at a loss. There is the weakness of the central portion that this movie has, compared to what happens in the beginning and right after the middle. Yes, there is the stupidity in love too, but that is expected.

Performers of the soul :: Vineeth Sreenivasan wins the show, mostly with his funny side rather than anything else, and his presence in this cute movie is rather like the need for fire inside a fire-breathing dragon, and it is by his presence and his usual style that he has controlled things here, without trying anything different or special. But, if the movie is going to work for a certain extended period which becomes an infinite period of a slice of eternity, the credit for the same should go to Namitha Pramod, and the way in which she has handled her character. There is nothing big as if to slay Smaug the stupendous being demanded there, but she has done the job with so much neatness. Supporting her is Soumya Sadanandan who has done an unbelievably good job, making one wonder if she is a veteran. It felt so natural with her performance, and I hope to see her a lot more on the big screen, as she seems to handle every department so well. Aju Varghese handles the entertainment, and once again comes with a big score.

Soul exploration :: Ormayundo Ee Mukham once again get itself into the true love theme, which is surely something that has been exaggerated again and again, and it similarities to 50 First Dates doesn’t help the cause at all. But it has the nice moments which deals with the same in a better manner than most of the other movies. Well, what was Thattathin Marayathu other than a veil-obsessed young man wandering around after falling in love with a random girl for almost no reason at all? Did Om Santhi Oshana have anything other than a strange infatuation? Well, those two movies were undoubtedly better than this, but we can’t let this one go just because it has inspiration from a Hollywood movie. It takes some brains to adapt something from there to here, especially in the case of romantic comedy, as the definition of the same are different here. It is not really easy to group movies like No Strings Attached, Love and Other Drugs, Friends with Benefits and A Lot Like Love into romance, which would be rather absurd looking from here. We always had the worst of such nonsense in the form of things like Banglore Days.

How it finishes :: Ormayundo Ee Mukham needs an applause for the transformation it has done with the material, and all that the cast has put into it. There is no emotional nonsense which gets into this one either, even when the emotions are on the high – and there is no other dumb fake romance related thing added to it. The movie surely works as an entertainer, and its skill in the use of its resources can be clearly seen. But don’t expect a Thattathin Marayathu at all, and if you have watched 50 First Dates and liked it a lot, may be you won’t like this that much. I am not that much of an admirer of Hollywood’s romantic comedies, as I don’t think it has that much of any real romance at all, almost completely dishonoring what defined the same, and keeping it for Disney and the children’s movies. May be if that wasn’t the case, I would have liked this less; but I am sticking to the old generation romance, and I say that this one strikes one good shot towards the boundary and it is up-to the commentators and the crowd to talk about it.

Release date: 14th November 2014
Running time: 140 minutes
Directed by: Anvar Sadik
Starring: Vineeth Sreenivasan, Namitha Pramod, Aju Varghese, Soumya Sadanandan, Mukesh, Rohini, Lakshmi, Idavela Babu, Bhagath Manuel, Raveendran

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vellimoonga

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: I condemn the name of this movie. They are not supposed to name a comedy movie as “the silver owl”.

Vampire Bat :: It says silver owl, not vampire owl or not even night owl. There is no way it can affect you.

Vampire Owl :: But I am still deeply offended.

Vampire Bat :: You were just looking to find a reason to be offended.

Vampire Owl :: Everyone is offended by something or anything all the time, and I choose to follow that path which is the new fashion. I shall still forgive them if the movie is a good one, because I am a generous Vampire Owl.

Vampire Bat :: It has good reviews so far. You could actually not blame a few people this time.

Vampire Owl :: Who are they to judge and review an owl? What do they even know about owls? Are they married to owls?

Vampire Bat :: It is not really the story of an owl. It has humans. What is wrong with you these days?

Vampire Owl :: I stare at the mirror and see only the owlish truth. The absolute truth that only the owls can recognize as true.

Vampire Bat :: This is exactly why zombies eat brains.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: Vellimoonga tells the story of a politician Mamachan (Biju Menon) who attempts to reach big heights by being part of political party in the north of India rather than joining a local party and using his local image to become a leader in the locality. He roams around his village, attempting to make a name using his political affliation to the big party of which he is just one of the very few members in the whole state. His best friend and the only other member of the party in that locality is Pachan (Aju Varghese) who helps him in his initiatives, hoping to go to Delhi with him some day. Jose (Tini Tom) is his big political enemy from the left wing. Mamachan who is not married even after his younger brother getting married and having two kids, finally falls of a girl who attends the same church, Lisa (Nikki Galrani), but would face big resistance from her father Vareeth (Siddique) who used to be his rival. How our hero handles the situation becomes the rest of the story.

The defence of Vellimoonga :: The movie’s ability to be a laugh riot cannot be questioned in the most doubtful situations. We come to know that right in the beginning itself. They could ornate this simple plot with nice comic numbers and some interesting twists with serene strength. The script does have enough to extract the performances from the actors and actresses. The visuals are good as the beauty of the rural area is captured nicely and the shots are beautifully adorned. There is no questioning the movie’s propensity for competence even without the presence of any so called superstar or heavy publicity, and for the same, the movie deserves some more applause. The movie could skillfully use its cast to its strength, and could thrive on the abilities of its actors to evoke laughter embedding the right situations here and there and there is also the ultimate realization that it gives to its viewers on how cute and pretty Nikki Galrani actually looks.

The claws of flaw :: Vellimoonga could have surely had a little more logic with some of its proceedings, but that should be a purely subjective opinion as far as a funny movie purely made for fun is concerned, and it does keep some of the same. The songs are just ordinary, nothing really making an impact. There is a little bit of missing in the middle, with the flow getting lost at times, but that can often go unnoticed. A little more care to the plot could have been nice, instead of deviating each situation to bring comedy here and there. A little bit more of the reflections of the major political incidents would have also done this movie more favours. A full swing political satire like Sandhesam could have been here, may be developing what Oru Indian Pranayakadha had also partially shown, sadly that much is not there to be seen. There are also a number of comedy numbers which should have been rather avoided, but may be it caters to a certain group of viewers.

Performers of the soul :: Biju Menon returns to the big screen as the solo leading character of a movie after a very long time, and it is not just the silver in the name of the movie that he strikes, but it is the gold itself. It was splendid to see how well he captures the mannerisms of his character and gets into the role of a political player with such an ease. Yes, it is Aju Varghese who skillfully supports him and does what he has been doing the best, but there is nothing like Biju Menon leading the comedy train, something he has been doing for such a long time along with his other variety roles. He doesn’t combine with or play second fiddle to Kunchako Boban or Dileep this time as takes things forwards with the support of Aju. This also turns out to be Nikki Galrani’s best ever outing in Malayalam as she is stunningly beautiful and cute like no other actress of these days. Tini Tom also essays an impressive role with ease, and Asif Ali’s extended cameo is likable. It is good to see Anu Joseph in the movies too. Sunil Sukhada and Sasi Kalinga scores with their comic numbers too.

Soul exploration :: Vellimoonga does work as a satire, there is no doubt about it. The movie doesn’t hesitate in making fun of the political situation that is prevalent in the country concerned with unholy alliances between the parties and seat sharing, along with the influence of regional parties. The situations related to politics remain funny throughout the movie, and the personal life of the protagonist and his infatuation towards the girl comes only as a part of the same. The significant thing is that the whole thing is concerned with what happens in one village, something which provides a certain feel-good factor to this movie, as the audience also seems to need such locations. The movie doesn’t give the feeling of drinking some bourgeoisie coffee which is provided by some random machinery, but that of a certain kind of tea which has the flavour of the villages and its hardworking common people.

How it finishes :: Vellimoonga is the winner of the weekend before Gandhi Jayanthi and will carry over its success to the Pooja season – who would have thought that this Biju Menon starrer will be the winner facing bigger movies which released at the same time, or were already in the theatres when it came to the audience? Yes, Biju Menon wins this round with ease, and for giving us this one with all its power, we can thank his versatility as a wonderful actor. Let’s hope that this movie is not lost in mindless remakes coming from Bollywood with the dumb stuff like Bang Bang! We are in need of comedy movies which don’t stoop into buffoonery of any kind, and Vellimoonga guarantees that such movies can exist without superstars with its own existence. May be it will inspire more movies which can come up with some more genuine comedy which won’t make the brains of the audience feel like vegetable noodles.

Release date: 26th September 2014
Running time: 130 minutes (estimate)
Directed by: Jibu Jacob
Starring: Biju Menon, Aju Varghese, Nikki Galrani, Tini Tom, Lena, Asif Ali, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Siddique, Sunil Sukhada, Sasi Kalinga, Kalabhavan Shajon, Anu Joseph, Chembil Ashokan, Shivaji Guruvayoor

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Sapthamashree Thaskaraha

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: I can’t pronounce the name of this movie. Is it a bad omen? Does that mean that we will suffer brutally?

Vampire Bat :: No, the movie is good as per all reports. There is absolutely no question about it. The inability to pronounce is because you are an owl.

Vampire Owl :: I am the Vampire Owl.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, everybody knows that already.

Vampire Owl :: Well, what you don’t know about is the significance of owls in vampire mythology.

Vampire Bat :: It is not about you, but some random old, toothless owl.

Vampire Owl :: You shall not understand because you were brainwashed thrice by Uncle Dracula. Do you think the movie will go wrong?

Vampire Bat :: I don’t think so. Prithviraj hasn’t missed anything since Ayalum Njanum Thammil. There is that perfection even in cameo roles; even in Bollywood. Even his lesser appreciated movie London Bridge was a very good flick which some people failed to follow with its themes because of their lesser intellect.

Vampire Owl :: So, this is the day we really celebrate Onam?

Vampire Bat :: This should be it. But this is not the end as there are also a few other movies to pick from.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: We see a man coming to confess at a church in the early morning, and he decides to tell the priest about his story of crime. He talks about how his life changed with one big heist that he committed. There are seven people who meet in the prison, and the list includes Krishnanunni (Prithviraj Sukumaran), Shabab (Asif Ali), Noble (Nedumudi Venu), Martin (Chemban Vinod), Narayanankutty (Neeraj Madhav), Vasu (Sudheer Karamana) and Salam (Salam Bukhari). They decide to steal from a business tycoon called Pious Mathew (Joy Mathew) who was the one responsible for the terrible predicament of some of the people in the same cell as well as many other poor people. For the same, they come up with a plan for which they are helped by Noble’s daughter Annamma (Sanusha Santhosh), Salam’s friend Paki (Flower Battsetseg) and a few of the other former acquaintances as they decide to teach the city’s top devil a lesson.

The defence of Sapthamashree Thaskaraha :: Here, the usual heist movie is made interesting due to the skills of the director, as there is some nice narration and progress going on in the movie, and the jokes are nicely added in between the situations. The confession setting is nicely done, and the dialogues there are worth some applause. There were lots of claps all around in the theatre. Anil Radhakrishnan Menon has nicely managed these characters here and has made sure that all the robbers have some individuality of their own to compliment each other. The whole thing remains interesting throughout, and there is no drag, loss of interest or any similar thing. The fact that this turns out to be more of a heist than a social satire might be interesting for a few, but not working for some others – remember that things are rather too easy for the robbers. The movie is a clear winner for the Onam box-office, and nothing can change that, and considering the opinions about the other movies, a defence might not be even needed.

The claws of flaw :: The addition in the end is pretty immature, as if there is that 7th Day hangover which never leaves, and has come back to haunt for this Onam – the movie should have just finished before it. There is never the need for a climax over another climax just to add another twist. What we needed were simple lovable little robbers working for a cause, and the end ruins it, destroying that feel-good element completely. The movie was going in the same mood until it happened. The whole thing does remind us of many Hollywood heist movies, and as a comparison is rather unnecessary, I shall leave out of it. This doesn’t like up-to our director’s first movie North 24 Kaatham in front of which, this is trailing. The movie takes too much time to get into the action, and almost an hour is over by the time all the flashbacks are dealt with – not really appropriate for a heist movie to have such a long background for each character. None of the songs are interesting except for the title song which is okay.

Performers of the soul :: Prithviraj Sukumaran continues his winning run in Sapthamashree Thaskaraha, as his success story continues from what he had started with the Lal Jose movie and goes on even when put in less familiar territories like Bollywood (Aurangzeb), romance (London Bridge) and even in negative roles most of the actors would hesitate to do. That perfect journey that he started in 2012, as there is no other actor who has achieved such a good winning ratio, as they move around with their ups and downs – this where Prithviraj has risen above them all, the only other person who has achieved a similar record should be Nivin Pauly, but even he hasn’t got such variety opportunities as our man here who has made the impossible look easy through the last few years. Yes, if you choose the right movie to act in, there will always be appreciation or at least there won’t be too many bad things being told in the worst case scenario.

And the same that is continued :: This Onam is not just about this movie’s success for Prithviraj Sukumaran, as he became father to a baby girl a few days ago. Here, he has a role which is not at all a challenge for him, and does that with ease. The rest of the cast is also very good, and it is on the performances that this movie stands. Reenu Mathews and Sanusha do fine with the limited roles that they have, and the pick of the supporting cast should be Chemban Vinod and Neeraj Madhav who give us a lot to laugh. Asif Ali should have had a bigger role here, but he remains just as one of the seven robbers, unlike his nice entrance in the beginning. Joy Mathew is a nice villain, and this might be better than his previous such performances. Sudheer Karamana and Nedumudi Venu also provides nice support here. Indrajith Sukumaran comes in a guest role by the end of the movie. Flower Battsetseg, a Mongolian circus artist also does some nice work in this flick.

How it finishes :: This Onam is not that good as the last year, as it is evident from the reception for the released movies, and it goes on with the total lag that this year has experienced with Malayalam movies. The last year’s Onam had North 24 Kaatham, Daivathinte Swantham Cleetus and Ezhamathe Varavu being very good flicks, the first one being simplay awesome. There were also terrible stuff like D Company and Sringaravelan, but this year only has Sapthamashree Thaskaraha and up-to an extent, Bhaiyya Bhaiyya to save the season, as others turn out to be mass masala movies for the fans. If the reports are to be correct, Sapthamashree Thaskaraha should be the movie of Onam, and it is clearly re-iterated by a lot of movie watchers who are regular audience. It is a good sign for this Onam. I shall take this opportunity to wish everyone who reads this a Happy Onam, and hope that this last weekend before the Onam vacation ends, brings some awesome movies which will only extend our celebrations. Enjoy the Onam Holidays and God bless! 🙂

Release date: 6th September 2014
Running time: 148 minutes
Directed by: Anil Radhakrishnan Menon
Starring: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Reenu Mathews, Sanusha Santhosh, Asif Ali, Joy Mathew, Neeraj Madhav, Nedumudi Venu, Chemban Vinod, Flower Battsetseg, Sudheer Karamana, Salam Bukhari, Lijo Jose Pellissery, Indrajith Sukumaran (cameo)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Bhaiyya Bhaiyya

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: Do they give subsidy to movies which doesn’t have a Malayalam title?

Vampire Bat :: I haven’t heard about it after that news about the same.

Vampire Owl :: There is one Sanskrit title and one Hindi title for two out of the four movies released during this Onam.

Vampire Bat :: William Shakespeare has said that we can call a rose by any name, and it wouldn’t make any difference.

Vampire Owl :: But you can’t call Uncle Dracula a mosquito just because they have been doing the same thing for so many centuries, right?

Vampire Bat :: No, the title should still be suitable. But any language would be fine; the Malayalam movies with English titles have done great business, like Memories, Philips and the Monkey Pen, Left Right Left, Celluloid and others. May be such names also bring more luck, and is also easier to release them outside Kerala and catch some attention.

Vampire Owl :: So, what language title would be 1983?

Vampire Bat :: I guess that would be like what the director calls it. That is one safe move there.

Vampire Owl :: So, it deserves subsidy?

Vampire Bat :: How can we be sure? Mumbai Police sounds English, and North 24 Kaatham is partially English – we are not qualified enough to understand that completely, I guess.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: The movie tells the story of not just one Babu, but two of them, the first one Babumon (Kunchako Boban) from the highranges of Kerala and Baburam (Biju Menon) who was adopted by Babumon’s father during his stay in Bengal. Both grew up together, and as time progresses, Baburam drops out of school and Babumon falls in love with Angel (Nisha Aggarwal), the daughter of a rich businessman and politician, Varkey (Vijayaraghavan). Baburam falls for Shanthi (Vinutha Lal) from Salem, who is working with them. They come in conflict with Monayi (Shammi Thilakan) who is Angel’s brother and also the one whom Varkey is promoting as the next young MLA and minister. Accompanied by Soman (Suraj Venjaramoodu) who wants to see Kolkata, they travel together to Bengal with the corpse of a worker who died in an accident at their site; the rest of the group has Babumon, and Angel who are eloping and Shanthi who wishes to get down at Salem on the way, with Baburam as the driver.

The defence of Bhaiyya Bhaiyya :: The movie targets the family audience during this Onam vacation and celebration. It seems to try to get into that family and kids pleasing area which is always there to be taken. It does achieve some of that with ease, as there are funny moments which keeps coming, and most of the time, it does work – the trailer had already given that idea for the viewers. The visuals are fine, especially that of the hilly areas of Kerala, and that of the Kolkata city. The narrative with the monologue by the hero is quite good. The movie doesn’t ask for big thinking or hope for logic, and yet keeps its events under control without going out of the boundary. This is the same reason why it is very good in parts, and even when it losses its footing, it shows an ability to come back and keep going. Then there is Nisha Aggarwal, and that is one reason which needs no defence as we watch Kunchako Boban – Biju Menon combo attempting to strike again.

The claws of flaw :: Bhaiyya Bhaiyya is more of a standard procedure, as it goes on predictable lines, and even the surprise that is added doesn’t work in favour of the movie. The whole thing is adjusted to suit the story which has no real innovation in it, and the characters are not really used that well either. There was the need for a stronger bonding in romantic love, and more incident to support the brotherhood. This is supposed to a comedy, but that can’t be used as an excuse because this movie is not entirely that. Even the comic side is rather repetitive, and there are numbers that we are quite familiar with. It needed more seriousness or more comedy, but this takes the middle path, and even then the mixing is not correct. The songs are not at all interesting, and this is the area which could have given a movie like this, a much needed boost, but that wasn’t to be. The climax needed more impact, and it can only be said to work in a funny manner, not that much of a brilliance right there.

Performers of the soul :: It has been a long time since Kunchako Boban and Biju Menon acted together, and even their most dumb and irritating work Romans was a superhit loved by the masses, and therefore a lot was expected from this movie which was supposed to go the way of Ordinary, and also be funny like Mallu Singh, Seniors and 101 Weddings in which they had created some nice fun. There is no doubt here that both of them did give some nice performance in the roles which gave them some lesser challenge as they also had success in such roles without the other. Nisha Aggarwal has a good debut in the Malayalam movie industry, and she has done fine in a role which might have been new to her, but common in the Malayalam movie industry. Vinutha Lal is also fine as the other female lead, even as she has eve lesser to do. Jacob Gregory was nice in his role, but it was short and of lesser significance. Innocent and Salim Kumar are also present to handle the fun, and Suraj Venjaramoodu has more presence with some good numbers. Vijayaraghavan and Shammi Thilakan also play the typical roles.

Soul exploration :: The movie seems to have that message that all Indians are brothers and sisters, even as the relationships are not that effective here. The movie’s main characters are from Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu showing the strength of India’s unity in diversity, even as it is not that visible from their talks and action. May be the movie could have worked it that way, without losing its fun elements, but I guess there was the chance of some mockery in the same, which would work against the flick. The shots are also from the three states, even as Kerala has more, for the obvious reasons. The value of brotherhood is also implied here, and it is not just the usual relationship between two brothers that work here, as there is no blood relationship involved at all. The romantic side also takes the second place as bromance takes over right from the beginning, and that way, this is Bhaiyya Bhaiyya making the title of the movie true.

How it finishes :: There will be the need to watch Kunchako Boban – Biju Menon partnership yet again on the big screen, and the opportunity to see the beautiful Nisha Aggarwal on the screen in her first Malayalam movie, and one has to admit that she looks a lot like her elder sister, the stunning Kajal Aggarwal. The cast might not attract those extremist fans of the big stars who will abuse you if you say that the movie is bad, but only nicer people who are not the fans for popularity, but for only the good reasons – its good to be there without hardcore fan evil. The movie doesn’t disappoint, and neither does it loss out this Onam, but still it might be one of those movies which will somewhat miss out due to the lack of publicity; this one even lacks a Wikipedia page – how often do you see that? It is the first thing that a movie should have, followed by the Facebook page. The feel-good elements and the comedy keeps it going, along with the fact that this is the vacation time; the wonderful season of Onam.

Release date: 5th September 2014
Running time: 130 minutes (estimate)
Directed by: Johny Antony
Starring: Kunchako Boban, Nisha Aggarwal, Biju Menon, Vinutha Lal, Jacob Gregory, Shammi Thilakan, Vijayaraghavan, Innocent, Salim Kumar, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Thesni Khan

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Angry Babies

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Bat :: Did you just say Angry Birds at the ticket counter?

Vampire Owl :: Yes, but he heard Angry Babies.

Vampire Bat :: How can you be so sure?

Vampire Owl :: Because he gave me tickets. Angry Babies sounds dumb. I am not going to say that with Angry Birds in my mobile.

Vampire Bat :: But what if there are real babies in it and justifies the title?

Vampire Owl :: I have watched the trailer. It didn’t seem like the protagonists were ever going to have a baby.

Vampire Bat :: It should have been Angry Babes then, unless they act like babies.

Vampire Owl :: I am afraid this will remind me of What Happens in Vegas.

Vampire Bat :: I think it will be like Just Married.

[Enters the movie hall].

What is it about? :: The rich and the poor love story begins in the highranges of Kerala as Sarah Thomas (Bhavana), daughter of a wealthy businessman and Jeevan Paul (Anoop Menon), a still photographer decides to run away on the day of the lady’s betrothal. They arrives in Mumbai and starts a Coffee Shop with name Sarah Jeevan by selling the ornaments she was wearing for her engagement function. As Sarah is more into the shop and Jeevan rarely goes there and attempting to get a job as a photographer, they slowly moves away from each other; his photographing beautiful models acting as a powerful catalyst for the same. They slowly begins to detest the presence of each other, and files a divorce only to be asked to wait for six months which seems longer to them than ever. After failing in an attempt to push the other person out of their flat, they decide to share the place until the legal separation, and their problems are mediated by Madhavan (P. Balachandran). Sarah attempts to take over things by appointing a servant Selvi (Anusree) and being close to Alex (Joju) much to Jeevan’s dismay. But as their friends who helped them elope comes to Mumbai, they decide to act like all is well so that they are not hurt.

The defence of Angry Babies :: The one thing which was guaranteed from the beginning and delivered with ease was the fun. The movie has clean entertainment and comedy, unlike the new generation comedy which laughs at things or use multiple double meaning words in an attempt to evoke laughter. This is where the has been quite an attention, and even if there is some loss of fun, such tidy status is to be managed if families are to watch this one, and the flick manages some security there. This is lots of fun right from the beginning to the end, but as it moved towards the climax, it doesn’t fail to give some message about adjustments in marriage, and the weaknesses that the love marriages will show sooner or later as long as there is no support from the families of the bride and groom. The blessings of one’s parents is always a major factor in marriage. There is difference between love and marriage and it is easier to talk stupid things about love and wander around together doing nothing, but wedding takes it to another level, and this one deals with the problems in Ivar Vivahitharayal in a funny and sometimes stupid manner – the same director handles this one too. There are lots of funny situations, and the beauty of Mumbai is nicely captured too.

The claws of flaw :: Angry Babies doesn’t have that much of an innovation, and the story is mostly predictable except for the smaller details. The story has is own dose of exaggeration, but nothing that thrives on inflammation to the wrong emotions like Bangalore Days had been trying; why do you need to over-think Angry Birds though, for it serves it purpose and do what it is supposed to do, with no unnecessary additions to make it something it is not. The ending is also a bit forced with the love returning to the life like a boomerang quickly remembering that it was actually supposed to come back – well, this was supposed to maintain that comic factor throughout the movie and the ending is no different as it ends up in another funny moment. This is not for the people who are not looking forward to such a movie, and if someone feels the need to inject anything other than just fun into this movie, it is their problem and needs to stop watching movies in the theatre. There is no denying that it could have created a few more funny moments, and the flashback story of love needn’t even exist – it never bores with such stuff, and then why not the creation of a little more funny moments like What Happens in Vegas and Just Married could come up with?

Performances of the soul :: Most of the screen time is reserved for Anoop Menon and Bhavana, and there is almost no moment which doesn’t include one of them and most of the time, they spend together. Anoop Menon shows his skill for comedy like never before, especially in the first half and in the end works well with the emotional stuff. Bhavana is a beauty; not just with the looks, but with her handling of both comic and emotional scenes. She plays a character which reminds one of Mamtha Mohandas in My Boss, and yet keeps so many good elements with her unlike that “boss”, and this middle path that she has taken for her character is rather a smart idea by the director not making her the more egotic person, and gives enough to Anoop’s character too. None of these characters preach though, and keeps things simple, fighting and getting over with it. Anusree’s character is a little overdose at times, but manages to funny throughout the movie, and she is one actress who can thrive in simplicity. The Vodafone Comedy Stars fame Noby was the funniest one in the second half, and it makes one extremely happy to see him coming up with so much to make us laugh, and Joju comes next in the comic contribution. Noby needs a lot more chances, for he has earned it. Meanwhile, Nishanth Sagar makes a nice come back looking so much younger, and Parvathy Nair looks beautiful in her short stay. Kalabhavan Shaju also contributes to the fun.

Soul exploration :: One thing is very clear about this movie, and it is the lack of pretending to be something. Unlike our most recent pretender to the throne of awesomeness called Bangalore Days, this movie knows where it stands and where the strengths lie. This one also doesn’t depend on a hufe starcast to hide its weaknesses, but it uses very good use of the resources available. The disadvantages of a multi-starrer cast has always been its special ability to hide its weaknesses; just like what was evident from the early opinions about Bangalore Days. The people would be staring at their favourite stars and it will be impossible for them to tell the truth that the movie had problems, and will say that the movie is awesome just because they are typical fanboys and fangirls. The real movies shouldn’t have too many superstars because it spoils its essence even as there will be a good amount of box-office collections, and there will no real review about it as nobody wishes to go against the fans because people only need to read what they want to read, and this case, they are intoxicated just because their favourite actor or actress looks great on the screen. When those involved with the movie other than the cast are also popular, the movie needs zero substance. This movie moves away from such lies, and that is a point for the soul.

How it finishes :: Coming from the director who has handles the funny side nicely, like in Ivar Vivahitharayal, Happy Husbands and Husbands in Goa, this was expected to be interesting stuff which is certain to make the audience laugh as long as it kept close to the genre. This is his sixth movie and the first one without Jayasurya being a part of the cast. This would be his first movie with Anoop Menon and the second with Bhavana as a part of it. In a weekend when movies like Koothara released, it was good to have this movie from Saji Surendran, with a movie that doesn’t think that the audience are stupid and the flick is too intellectual. As I was not a part of the Mermaid Welfare Association of India, I wasn’t happy at all with Koothara, but that is one story I am not going to talk about now. For now, what we need to remember is that Angry Babies is the movie which promises and delivers what it is supposed to come up with, as anything else would have been an unnecessary overdose which the superstar movies come up with, and not a movie which has an identity of its own rather than wearing a fake visage intended only for making money. Now, for the question about the title of the movie, the protagonists are indeed like babies in both love and hatred 😀

Release date: 14th June 2014
Running time: 130 minutes (estimate)
Directed by: Saji Surendran
Starring: Bhavana Menon, Anoop Menon, Noby Tharian, Joju George, Parvathy Nair, P. Balachandran, Kalabhavan Shaju, Nishanth Sagar, Anusree Nair

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Bangalore Days

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: So we won’t watch Bangalore Days, right?

Vampire Bat :: We will watch it. There will be force from Nivin Pauly fans, Dulquer Salmaan fans, Nazriya fans and Fahad Faasil fans and even Anjali Menon fans who will force us to go for the movie no matter what is shown in the movie.

Vampire Owl :: You mean there is no escape. Won’t the monsoon calm them down?

Vampire Bat :: No, they constitute ninety five percent of the Keralite young population. Unless we hide ourselves in a bunker, there is no escape from the fan bombs.

Vampire Owl :: Let’s not listen to them who rate the movie high just because of the people involved, and hiding that fact, just say that movie is awesome.

Vampire Bat :: Let’s watch this soon enough but not falling to those extremely high fan ratings.

Vampire Owl :: So, can we order an extra plate of fried rice with more gravy?

Vampire Bat :: I guess I will need two cups of tea too.

Vampire Owl :: Why two? One for Count Dracula?

Vampire Bat :: One before finishing the food and the other after the grand finish.

[The food happens again].

What is it about? :: There are three cousins, Krishnan (Nivin Pauly), Arjun (Dulquer Salmaan) and Divya (Nazriya Nazim) who have been great friends since childhood and shared almost everything with each other. Divya is married to the busy executive Das (Fahadh Faasil) and that lands her in Bangalore. Krishnan who gets a new job in the IT sector also gets posted in Bangalore, and that comes as no surprise. Arjun, who has the habit of leaving his home and keeping his relatives worried, also comes to the same city and does a little mechanic job bringing the three cousins together again. Arjun falls in love with a physically disabled Radio Jokey, Sarah (Parvathy). Krishnan meets an airhostess who is half-Malayali, Meenakshi (Isha Talwar) and is instantly attracted to her even as the lady of his dreams is simple and having a Malayali character. Meanwhile, the relationship between Divya and Das becomes strained due to multiple reasons, and Krishnan’s mother comes to Bangalore after his father goes on a spiritual trip. Sarah has to go to Australia while her mother despises Arjun for his background and lifestyle, and Meenakshi is not serious in the relationship with Krishnan, making things further complicated.

The defence of Bangalore Days :: This one is a joy to watch in the beginning stages. There are three cousins, with lot of love for each other and enjoying life. There are many funny moments in the movie, mostly including Nivin Pauly, as he falls for the one true love he meets who is surely not a lady of his dreams. The jokes work throughout the movie, even as the second half takes them down. There is a lot of intelligence in bringing fun in the first half, and they have smartly used the Thattathin Marayathu stuff in this one which is a nice addition. The cast is as close to perfection as it can be, especially with three male leads, Nivin Pauly, Fahadh Faasil, and Dulquer Salmaan. Among the female leads, Parvathi shines the most, and this is a different avatar for her considering the roles we usually see her in. There might still be no better happiness than seeing all these stars together, seven in total, three male and four female, and all of them young and bringing their energy all the way to the screen. This leaves a lot of the young generation fans, and the fanboys as well as fangirls will love this stuff. This is the movie that they can celebrate by bunking classes and wasting time.

The claws of flaw :: The movie has no interesting story to tell the viewers. It has just three people who are the centre of attraction, seemingly made even before the plot ever existed, and into their lives, the whole story is packed and sent. The twist that they bring for Fahadh’s character was possibly the worst thing they could do to the story as an ineffective turn-around. The bike racing stuff was quite unnecessary, as Dulquer was cool without it. But here, he will jump bike just because they can make him. He was nicely turning into a likable character from one of the worst young man in this story. May be because even non-racing fans liked Rush and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikhander had such an awesome climax, they should have thought this was the way to go. The scene after the final marriage is equally worse, and Nivin Pauly character’s “happily ever after” is ended in such a poor manner. There is a lot of drag in this movie which was supposed to be a lot of fun. The major point of this flick was to be entertainment, but this movie forgets that in the second half, making this more of a soap opera, and tries hard to make audience cry, but without substance. The ending leaves us needing more and emptiness in this movie is mostly filled by unnecessary songs. Well, this is a fire-breathing dragon which decided to breath cliches for a change, and each character seems to contribute to it when they go through the story.

Performers of the soul :: Nivin Pauly and Nazriya Nazim has been the hit pair, but here the latter is paired with her real life future husband, Fahadh Faasil, and Nivin repeats the hit pair of his first big lead movie Thattathin Marayathu with Isha Talwar. Nazriya is fine, but still not that awesome as we saw in Om Shanti Oshaana. Meanwhile, Fahadh Faasil is brilliant in a role which makes him only the fourth significant person in the movie, but an admired one for sure. He remains strong, and it is something we expect from him no matter what happens around him. Nivin Pauly is awesome, and is the best of them all, especially in the funny scenes. He should have had a little more presence in the whole thing rather than being restricted. Dulquer Salmaan hasn’t impressed me since Ustadh Hostel, and everything that came after that had me uninterested, and felt that he was choosing the wrong movies for whatever reason. But he certainly scores in this one, even as his character deserves a lot of hatred for the first half – he comes up with a memorable performance especially in the second half. Nithya Menon and Parvathi haven’t been around for some time, and it was good to see them. While Nithya has only a small role, Parvathi is very nice as the love interest of Dulquer’s character.

Soul exploration :: Everyone loves the city of Bangalore, and it is one of the cities of the South which I visited at an early age, and also that city which has most of my relatives and friends. I might just go there and find at least one person I know every day just by walking around, almost all of them engineers. Well, none of my friends who are staying there or have worked there has rated this movie high, and that is a negative for this one. I have actually found that most of the people whose opinions I care about have given this movie around average rating. But does this movie has more of a soul? Yes, it has the cousin friendship love stuff mixed and boiled in a bowl full of water, but how good is it? They are all there, but not presented in such a way that we can feel or connect. Even the most touching moments are rather dull because not enough care has been put in how the story progresses. It might be meant to make the viewers feel good, but that should require staying with the audience, but this one moves on and on, and in the presence degrading itself from being an awesome movie. Sooner or later, the question will be more about us deserving better than just expecting better.

How it finishes :: Bangalore Days has been one of the most anticipated movies by the fans of different actors. There are Nazriya Nazim fans who know that their favourite actress is going to get married and coming back to acting is not a sure thing. There are Nivin Pauly fans who have been standing tall since his two huge hits in the form of Om Shanti Oshaana, and those Dulquer Salmaan fans who are hoping for at least one good movie from him for a very long time. Then there the more intellectual ones, the fans of Fahadh Faasil who will be a calm force here. People also want to watch Nithya Menon and Isha Talwar so much, and Parvathy is also a bonus. Then there are people who keep praising Anjali Menon – all these people are going to force so many Keralites into the theatre that more records are going to be broken – there have been quite a few already. The movie is showing what the advantage of having young and good-looking actors, actresses and director is. There are too many fans who just look for that, and the days are bright for Bangalore Days, no matter how much the monsoon stays strong with the hope for thunderstorms with Koothara.

Release date: 30th May 2014
Running time: 172 minutes
Directed by: Anjali Menon
Starring: Nivin Pauly, Nazriya Nazim, Parvathy Kottuvata, Isha Talwar, Fahadh Faasil, Nithya Menon, Dulquer Salmaan, Prathap Pothen, Vijayaraghavan, Maniyanpilla Raju, Kalpana, Praveena, Vinaya Prasad, Rekha

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Polytechnic

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Tennyson

Vishu’s last comrade :: In the beginning, there were four Malayalam movies for the festival of Vishu, and this is the last one that list, as the least hyped, but I have found this one the second most interesting after 7th Day. But before I get into it, I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Suraj Venjaramoodu on winning the National Award for the Best Actor for his performance in Perariyathavar along with everyone behind the same movie. As everyone considered him to be someone inside a particular genre, there might not be many people from Kerala who expected the same. What makes me most happy is the selection of North 24 Kaatham as the best Malayalam movie, as unlike what some people said about it, I have always thought it was a wonderful movie and needed to gain a lot more attention, even as it did do quite well. Now with the award won, not many can reject the claim of awesomeness about that movie. So there is something from a long time Malayalam movie fan, and back to what I have been doing, and the road diverge into that fourth Vishu Malayalam movie which I watched, Polytechnic.

What is it about? :: Poly (Kunchako Boban) is the son of a soldier and a homemaker. He is a member of the local leftist party and is filled with socialist ideas and a desire to eliminate corruption from his village, thus not doing any job and not contributing to the income of the household in any way other than eating quite a lot. He is usually locked in fights against the Panchayat president and the local leader of the opposite party, Sukumaran Nair (Vijayaraghavan), but is in love with the daughter of the same man, Aswathy (Bhavana) whom he has liked since childhood. As Poly gets more and more involved with the events in the village, he has to face more problems. But the big problem comes when his father dies in a terrorist attack, and is left with the duty to take care of the household. With the money that they get after the death of his father, Poly starts a new business with the help of his friend Backer (Aju Varghese) and the blessings of their local leader. But soon he realizes that it is difficult to run an industry like it is easy to close one. He finds out that one can’t run a business in the right way, but decides to go against all odds and make sure that his venture turns successful.

The defence of Polytechnic :: Sometimes spelled as Pauly Technic at many places, Polytechnic is all about the technic the protagonist Poly uses to get his thing done. May be it is more about the protagonist being Poly or Pauly rather than anything else. The first half is more political and surely the funnier one, as it reminds one more of Oru Indian Pranayakatha‘s first half as it moves on to being somewhat the Punyalan Agarbathis as the first half gets closer to the interval and the whole second half. But the movie does maintain its own identity, thanks to all the funny dialogues and incidents as well as the total village set up. The message to fight corruption runs throughout the movie. There is a heavy dose of corruption incidents in the movie, and it keeps telling the viewers about the need to fight the same, and it is in the hands of the youth to do so. The movie has a lot of funny moments, and never does it cross the border of decency, something which has been difficult for Malayalam movies with the new generation movies all around. It makes sure that the movie is suitable for the families.

The claws of flaw :: The movie doesn’t have a wikipedia page. There are not many movies which doesn’t have one, and that is disappointing as such a page is necessary for any average movie which hits the theatre, and often the worst Malayalam movies have one. I would consider such a situation a serious threat to the movie’s promotions, just like not having a facebook page. The movie’s take on politics and corruption is half-baked. The whole thing becomes a fight only in the end, and the climax is rather too ineffective and forced. As this movie is more or less like last year’s Jayasuriya starrer Punyalan Agarbathis, the same trend seems to continue – the protagonist tries to start a business which has almost everything going against it, including the laws, officials, fate and those people who don’t like him. There is also the heroine giving full support as well as a friend who is always with him (both times played by Aju Varghese). The protagonist’s techniques are rather weak and none of them should actually impress the audience as the “great poly technic”. There it goes slow and pretty much predictable.

Performers of the Soul :: Kunchako Boban once again excels in a character with all the qualities necessary for the same. Remember Elsamma Enna Aankutty and Pullipulikalum Aattinkuttiyum, but here he has a character with more heroism, and he performs here with the same ease. He has fit into the role of the simple and ordinary man well. Bhavana seems to have got slimmer, and shines in a role in which most of the other Malayalam actresses haven’t really played to a good effect – a police officer and a lover who struggles to keep both roles afloat, caught between her lover and her father. She successfully portrays and remains true to that character. Vijayaraghavan and Aju Varghese heavily contributes to the funny side, and the latter has a role which is similar to what he did in Punyalan Agarbathis, and has made it better. These two are also seen in the other Vishu movie, Ring Master, the same is the case of Suraj Venjaramood who contributes in his usual manner. Kochu Preman is there to add a little more to the same. Hareesh Peradi remains strong and has yet another powerful role to essay. Innocent has a guest role in the end.

Soul exploration :: The feel-good movies are mostly for the soul, but this is actually less for the same. The message for the youth to fight against corruption is the one thing that stands alone, and the light shades make sure that the situation is enjoyable rather than frowned upon; but there are the moments which make one feel that its not that light a movie, especially when the protagonist’s struggles get too much and lands him in jail as well as ruins his reputation. There was the need for a stronger script and a better twist in the end to make sure that it works better rather than sticking to that feel-good thingy like a glue. It seems to have clinched on the simplicity, but there is still the twist, and the with its occasional drags and predictability, the movie is kind of confused at its soul, and the fact that they have somewhat managed to pull it off is a nice thing. Its attempt is on a message against what may be the biggest social evil in the nation, and that is well done as an attempt. There is also the reminder of Dakshayani Biscuits, the factory from Mohanlal’s old classic movie, Midhunam.

How it finishes :: The two things that would attract the audience should be that Bhavana is back, that too with Kunchako Boban a long time after Doctor Love, for the first time in a police role; and that Kunchako Boban is back in his second most comfortable territory, the family comedy entertainer (the first one being the usual romantic stuff). Polytechnic doesn’t seem to be ready to finish strong during this festival-vacation season. I wonder how much better it would have been if it had released before Punyalan Agarbathis. But this is still a season of big holidays, and as nothing other than 7th Day has successfully attracted enough audience, this might still hold on like Count Dracula to his coffin. To prepare for the same, lets keep the expectations low and take the opportunity, and be prepared for another addition of a feel-good movie to the long list of such movies which never cease coming as far as Malayalam movie industry is concerned.. I might be back only after Maundy Thursday and Good Friday or possibly only after Easter, and I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday, and may there be blessings in abundance on the day, plus belated Vishu greetings.

Release date: 11th April 2014
Running time: 145 minutes
Directed by: M. Padmakumar
Starring: Kunchacko Boban, Bhavana, Aju Varghese, Suraj Venjaramood , Tesni Khan, Devi Chandana, Vishnu Prabha, Hareesh Peradi, Kochu Preman, Ambika, Innocent